Stretcher frame

ABSTRACT

A stretcher frame is shown comprising four sides forming a rectilinear frame, each side having a flat upper rim with a multiplicity of teeth extending out from the upper rim. The lower edge of each of the sides has a flat surface also extending out and an upwardly extending guard. A display cover is frictionally mounted in contact with the guard surface and over the outside of the rectilinear frame.

United States Patent Cusick 1 Oct. 15, 1974 1 STRETCHER FRAME 2160,33? 5/1939 McKee 38/1021 721911.993 9/l952 U 38 l02.9l [75] lnfemori New York 2,760,299 8/1956 02:11pm :1]. it alt 102.2 [73] Assignee: Mar-Wil Enterprises Ltd., Staten Island, NY. Primary Examiner-Patrick D. Lawson [22] Filed: Mar. 1973 Attorney, Agent, or FlrM-PhlllP H. Pohl [21] Appl. No.: 342,728 [57] ABSTRACT A stretcher frame is shown comprising four sides [52] US. Cl. 38/102.91 rm ng a ilin r f m h id having a flat [51] Int. Cl. D06c 3/08 pper rim with a multiplicity of teeth extending out [58] Field of Search 38/102, 102.1, 102.91, from he upper rim. The lower edge of each of the 38/1022 sides has a flat surface also extending out and an upwardly extending guard. A display cover is frictionally [56] References Cited mounted in contact with the guard surface and over UNITED STATES PATENTS 5/1908 Crawford 38/1022 the outside of the rectilinear frame.

3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures 1 STRETCHER FRAME BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a device for mounting fabric which is worked on. More particularly this device relates to a frame for mounting a fabric preparatory for executing the art of crewel needlework thereon. Presently various types of home craftsmanship are enjoying wide popularity. One of these is the art of crewel needlework where it is required that the fabric which is the base on which the needlework is performed be stretched before stitching it. This stretching is accomplished on either a hoop or a wood stretcher. Furthermore if the finished work is to be framed for display, the fabric must also be stretched for mounting. The current stretching methods and devices are time consuming and complicated involving the cutting of wood to an exact size and the fitting and stapling of the fabric to the wood. Prior art devices which may be relevant such as the darning device shown by US. Pat. No. 888,592 issued May 26, 1908 to G. H. Crawford do not accomplish the operational functions, nor do they have the advantages of my stretcher-frame and cover.

Accordingly I have invented a novel stretcher-frame for holding a fabric which is being worked on by such an art as creweling or darning which possesses the ad-' vantage of stretching the fabric.

Another advantage of my stretcher frame is that the fabric edges are secured in place yet not damaged or cut;

Still another advantage of the device according to the present invention is to provide a guard which also encloses the edges of the fabric;

Yet another advantage of my invention is to provide a readily attachable display cover which both encloses the stretcher-frame and acts as a display frame for the worked on fabric.

Other advantages of the stretcher-frame according to my invention will be apparent from the array of the invention and the description of the drawings and pre ferred embodiment which follows.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly I have invented a stretcher-frame on which to stretch and support a flat sheet of fabric so as to perform some sort of handiwork such as creweling on the surface of the fabric and afterwards display the finished handicraft. The frame comprises four elongated sides, each side being connected to its two adjoining sides at the adjacent ends. More particularly each side comprises a web which is an elongated flat structure, the flat portion of the web being upright, and an upper flat rim extending outwardly from each web. A multiplicity of teeth are attached and extend out from the edge of the rim and are used to support the fabric without tearing any substantial amount of threads.

At the bottom of each web a strip and guard is attached in the form of an L with the toe of the'L being connected to the web. A display cover having a masking slat and border is insertable over the frame and held in place by frictional contact with the guard. This acts to cover the open teeth and from an attractive display for the finished handiwork, as will be further described.

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 of the drawings is an isometric view from above of the stretcher-frame of this invention.

FIG. 2 is a closer view of a portion of the corner of the stretcher-frame shown in FIG. 1; I

FIG. 3 is an isometric view of the stretcher-frame as enclosed and in combination with.the display cover; and

FIG. 4 is a cut away section of the stretcher-framecover taken along Section 4:4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS My invention as described is a stretcher-frame and display cover combination for use: in creweling. Briefly creweling is a handicraft for creating a design or picture using yarn on a fabric base. For this purpose the fabric base should be rigidly supported on an open frame during the handiwork. It is also advantageous to retain the finished product on a frame which stretches it to the same extent as during the work. My invention I find to be particularly advantageous in all these respects, which will be further elaborated on. It consists of a unitary stretcher-frame 12 (FIGS. 1 and 2) on which the fabric 13 worked on is mounted and a display cover 14 (illustrated in FIG. 4) which is used to display and protect the work and people handling it. Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, the frame 12 is formed from four side frames or more particularly 2 pair of side frames respectively 16 and 18 each pair 116 being so connected at their ends 20 to the adjacent ends 22 of the other pair, at right angles to each other. As each pair of frame sides are substantially the same length, when formed into the described frame, the resulting structure is essentially rectilinear in shape. Except for length each of the sides are essentially similar in construction shape and function, and has an upright web 24 perpendicularly located to the plane of the frame 12. The frame sides are actually joined to teach other at the axial (long axis) ends of each web 24 and thereby impart a unifying and advantageous rigidity to the frame. Preferably the frame sides are formed by taking a suitable length thereof and making 3 right angle bends whilejoining the open ends to each other by 2 right angle brace 26 riveted to each open end of the adjoining web 24. Along the top edge of each web is a flat rim 28 also at a substantially right angles to the short axis of the adjoining web. The flat rim acts as that surface of the frame on which the fabric rests. The width of the rim is not particularly important except as to limits which will later be described. A large number, or rather a multiplicity of teeth 30 are located at evenly spaced intervals on the outer edge of each rim extending outwardly in the same place so the rims surface. Preferably the teeth are rather narrow triangles in shape having a relatively small base, yet one which is strongly mounted on the rim. The reason that the teeth are preferably narrow based is to allow the tooth to penetrate deeply into the fabric between adjacent threads, yet not set to out those adjacent threads thereby ripping the fabric. In brief as described to this point the stretcher-frame is functionally operable in that a sheet of fabric can be placed over the frame hung on the teeth one one side os the frame and stretched and attached to the other side of the frame.

However, it is evident that with the frame in this state the edges of the fabric sheet will be hanging out and the teeth are not guarded and may readily injure anyone touching them. My invention therefore further comprises a bottom strip 32 on each web of the frame, this bottom strip being parrellel to the oppositely located rim of each web. The width of the bottom strip so viewed in FIG. 4 is somewhat greater than that of the upper rim and its mounted teeth. A guard 36 in the form of an extension of metal is attached at its lower edge to the bottom ridge and extends upwardly in a plane parallel to, and opposite to web to which it is joined by the strip. As seen in FIG. 4 the open edges of the fabric sheet can be tucked into the space between the guard and web. This sets to keep the fabric edges from fraying. Now referring to FIG. 3, the display cover 14 is shown in place. The cover 14 is formed from an angle of extruded metal, or rather an inverted L which viewed in the cross section view shown by FIG. 4, the leg of the L forming a cover 40 for the guard and teeth and being in frictional contact with the outer surface of the guard thereby holding the cover on the frame. The foot of the L forms 2 border 42 for the upper part of the frame covering the top of the rim and teeth and also bordering and framing the fabric and handi-work during work thereon and after completion. The display cover has 4 lengths of masking slot 40 and border 42 somewhat larger than the frame side over which they lie. Preferably the display cover is an extruded metal angle having the masking slat 40 cut out at appropriate lengths with triangles, and the border 42 bent at the triangle apex, the open axial ends of the border being suitable joined to form the rectilinear structure of the display cover which is easily insertable over the frame.

Preferably the aforesaid described stretcher-frame is made from a single extruded length of aluminum, and the display cover is made from another length of extruded aluminum. The open ends of the two extrusions after suitable cut outs for the teeth and the triangular cut-out on the cover are joined in any suitable way. Any desired rectilinear sized frame can be produced in this manner. It is readily apparent on examining the guard and its attached slat that in addition to the aforementioned guard function, its frictional contact for assembly with the display cover, that this structure adds measureably to the strength and rigidity of the frame without any consequent addition of weight or complexlty.

While my invention has been described as to its preferred embodiment, it should be understood that I wish to cover those modifications and advantages which would be apparent to those skilled in the art from this description without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

I claim:

1. A rectilinear stretcher-frame for holding a sheet of matter, said frame comprising:

four elongated sides, each of said sides being connected to the adjoining sides at the ends thereof, each of said sides comprising a. a web, said web being an elongated flat structure,

with the flat portion being upright, said side ends being the ends of said web; and

b. an upper flat rim attached at right angles to the top edge of said web and extending outwardly from the web, each rim having a multiplicity of teeth extending therefrom whereby a fabric sheet is secured on the frame,

a bottom strip attached at right angles to the lower edge of said web and parallel to said rim,

and a guard attached at right angles to the edge of said strip opposite said web, and extending upwardly parallel to said web said guard being located beyond the perimeter of the multiplicity of teeth mounted on each of said sides, said guard forming an enclosure in which the edges of the sheet of material are tucked.

2. The frame according to claim I wherein said teeth are narrow based prongs mounted at spaced intervals on the rim of each of said sides whereby the sheet material mounted and stretched on the frame is principally supported by the rim.

3. The frame according to claim 1 which additionally comprises a display cover having four lengths of border attached at their ends to each other and being frictionally insertable over said guards and an upper masking slat inwardly attached perpendicularly to the border at the top edge, where the sheet of material is framed by the display cover and the teeth of the frame are covered. 

1. A rectilinear stretcher-frame for holding a sheet of matter, said frame comprising: four elongated sides, each of said sides being connected to the adjoining sides at the ends thereof, each of said sides comprising a. a web, said web being an elongated flat structure, with the flat portion being upright, said side ends being the ends of said web; and b. an upper flat rim attached at right angles to the top edge of said web and extending outwardly from the web, each rim having a multiplicity of teeth extending therefrom whereby a fabric sheet is secured on the frame, a bottom strip attached at right angles to the lower edge of said web and parallel to said rim, and a guard attached at right angles to the edge of said strip opposite said web, and extending upwardly parallel to said web said guard being located beyond the perimeter of the multiplicity of teeth mounted on each of said sides, said guard forming an enclosure in which the edges of the sheet of material are tucked.
 2. The frame according to claim 1 wherein said teeth are narrow based prongs mounted at spaced intervals on the rim of each of said sides whereby the sheet material mounted and stretched on the frame is principally supported by the rim.
 3. The frame according to claim 1 which additionally comprises a display cover having four lengths of border attached at their ends to each other and being frictionally insertable over said guards and an upper masking slat inwardly attached perpendicularly to the border at the top edge, where the sheet of material is framed by the display cover and the teeth of the frame are covered. 